[34.04] The Whole Earth Blazar (WEB) Telescope

J. R. Mattox (Boston University)

The WEB Telescope (WEBT) is a network of
optical observers who in concert have the capability to obtain continuous,
high-temporal-density, optical monitoring.
Because of the longitude diversity of participating
observers, it is feasible to obtain continuous optical observations, with
observing activity moving from east to west around the world as the Earth rotates.
The WEBT web page is ``http://gamma.bu.edu/webt/''.
This network was organized to study blazar type AGN.
The optical blazar light curves obtained by the WEBT are studied in conjunction
with observations at other wavelengths. Correlation analysis with X-ray
and \gamma-ray light-curves is of particular interest for an investigation
of the continuum emission produced by the relativistic jets of blazars.
WEBT observers obtain accurate photometry with
CCD cameras using multiple reference stars. The blazars investigated
range in brightness
from 12th magnitude to 18th.
Operating experience
and initial results will be presented.
Because the operation of the WEBT now requires a
significant effort by many observers,
the WEBT is only active when data of extreme interest can be obtained.
In the future, we expect that it will be worthwhile to operate the WEBT
with a larger duty cycle. We expect that the most practical way to do
this is to have access to approximately 15 robotic optical telescopes
which are
primarily dedicated to CCD imaging. These telescopes could be located
at existing observing sites where power, occasional maintenance,
and an Internet connection could be easily obtained.
A coordinated multi-longitude
network of optical telescopes also has potential for investigating
a number of other phenomena, e.g. gamma-ray burst optical counterparts,
asteroseismology,
variable stars, microlensing, binary systems.

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